


Sunlight

by chopwood



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Nature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chopwood/pseuds/chopwood
Summary: "After Wendimoor, after Bergsberg and hospitals and recovery and everything, after finding apartments and moving into the new agency building and finally feeling stable in a tiny way, Dirk starts taking trips. Not big trips. Just short day trips, out of the city, away from the noise and smells and pavement and buildings and cars and people. Todd goes with him usually, for his own reassurance more than Dirk’s, not that Dirk minds the company. Not when it’s Todd."Just a short little fluff piece. Dirk likes to sit in the sun and Todd likes to watch him. Somewhat inspired by Hozier's song Sunlight.
Relationships: Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently
Comments: 12
Kudos: 28





	Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to Hozier's song Sunlight and I had this distinct image of Dirk basking in the sun after Blackwing since he spent two literal months in a windowless building, and I just wrote this cute little self indulgent blah blah blah. So bon Appétit. Also I posted this from my phone so apologies for any formatting weirdness.

After Wendimoor, after Bergsberg and hospitals and recovery and everything, after finding apartments and moving into the new agency building and finally feeling stable in a tiny way, Dirk starts taking trips. Not big trips. Just short day trips, out of the city, away from the noise and smells and pavement and buildings and cars and people. Todd goes with him usually, for his own reassurance more than Dirk’s, not that Dirk minds the company. Not when it’s Todd.

He goes out, drives a ways out past the suburbs and the limits of the city to the secluded trails and parks and open fields, places where he can feel the sun, where there aren’t any walls that seem to get closer every minute, where there isn’t sounds that bring back memories of things he doesn’t like to think about. It’s just fresh air, a gentle breeze, and the warmth of sunshine on his face. He doesn’t even mind the itchiness of the grass on his ankles or the red welts that appear later on his arm from stray mosquitos.

Todd had asked once, when he had first started to leave, disappearing for hours and coming back with slightly pink skin and windblown hair, why he went out there. Was it a hunch? Was there a case? Dirk simply shook his head. No. No case. No hunch. That’s why I go. I can stand there in the sun and feel nothing but what I’m supposed to. What a normal human person is supposed to. Todd simply nodded, pretending to understand what he definitely couldn’t. What nobody could. And the next trip, as Dirk was getting ready to go, Todd asked to join him, hesitantly, giving Dirk plenty of opportunity to say no, but Dirk smiled softly and nodded. Of course.

Todd could see it then, that first time, just like every following time he joined Dirk on his day trips. It was like he was breathing again. Like for just a short time, the cage was opened and he was allowed to run free. Dirk stretched out of the car door, no sense of urgency or frantic fumbling. He sucked in a deep breath, taking in the scent of the dirt and the leaves. He turned to Todd and smiled, waving for him to follow. Come on, this is my favorite trail, he said. They followed the winding dirt through meadows of dry brown grass and wildflowers, that buzzed with bees, up the rocky side of a hill, through a small forest of thin tall trees that dropped leaves that swayed through the air as they dropped to the ground. Dirk’s steps were confident, knowing the path from the times he’d walked it before, and not from some supernatural instinct. He brushed his hand over branches as he walked past, this is real, paused to gaze out across the view from their place rising up the hill side, this is real, he smiled as he took Todd’s hand, pulling him along, and the look in his eye said, this is real.

“I love this place.” Dirk’s eyes were closed. He was leaned back, sitting atop the picnic table several feet from the edge of the steep cliffside, sunshine cast over him like a warm blanket. Todd couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He was different here. Not in a bad way. Or a good way. Just… in a way.

“You seem happy here.” Todd’s words were neutral, no sense of bitterness or sadness or happiness. Just a statement. Dirk sighed, peeking out from the edge of his eyes at Todd, sitting on the bench. He laid back all the way, the prickle of the old wood table itched through his t-shirt, and turned to Todd.

“I don’t know actually.” The sky was so blue out here. Like the color of Todd’s eyes that were piercing through him now. “I don’t know if it’s happy. But it’s… it’s less. Less of what it usually is. Back there.” He paused. “In here.” He tapped his temple. The shape of Todd’s eyebrows shifted, and the wrinkles on his forehead became more pronounced. Dirk smiled, sadder now than before, and brought his hand up to Todd’s forehead, softly rubbing away the worry that was taking life on Todd’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Todd’s eyes closed. The hand brushing over his forehead wandered to his cheek, stroking over the bristle of hairs jutting out of his skin. Birds chirped from the brush behind them.

“Todd.” Dirk leaned over, resting his forehead against Todd’s. He felt a hand come up, resting over his neck, the calloused fingertips rough against the sensitive skin. He heard Todd sigh. “You help. This helps.”

“I just… I wish you didn’t have to… I wish you could have more… like this.”

“This is more. More than I ever thought I could have.” Todd opened his eyes again, pulling away just slightly. He could feel the heat of the sun, it radiated on his scalp, through his hair, warmed his chest. Dirk cupped his chin and smiled, soft and fond. Todd returned his expression with a matching one, his eyebrows shifting again, eyes crinkling at the edges. Dirk savored the feeling of his lips pressing against Todd’s, the slight sharpness of his chapped lips, the salty taste of sweat, the smell of sunscreen. It was like the feeling he got basking in the sun, the freedom he felt walking through the wildflowers. Todd pulled the back of his neck, closer, touching, needing the reassurance of his presence under his hand. Dirk responded, shifting atop the picnic table to wrap his arm around Todd’s shoulder, pressing into the kiss firmly. When they parted, they smiled. They sat quietly, enjoying the peace of the place Dirk had brought them to. And when Dirk had his fill, they pulled themselves away, walking hand in hand back to the car, back to the city, and the walls, and the people, and the constant press of the universe, but hoping desperately that this peace and quiet would be waiting for them again very soon. 


End file.
